Humans have wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, says WWF

WWF called for an ambitious global deal for nature and people

Sky News, 30 Oct 2018:

Earth’s ability to provide for humankind’s increasing demands has been exhausted and the world’s wildlife is paying the price.

Life on earth is being wiped out by humans living beyond the planet’s means, according to conservation organisation WWF.

Their latest global report claims wildlife is dying out faster than ever and says nature needs international “life support”.

Between 1970 and 2014, 60% of all animals with a backbone - fish, birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals - were wiped out by human appetites and activity, the report says.

Nine out of 10 of the world’s seabirds are thought to have plastic in their stomachs, while by 2050 only one 10th of the planet’s land will be free from human impact, according to the Living Planet Report 2018.

‘Life on earth is being wiped out by humans’

Climate change and plastic pollution are growing threats

Wildlife populations in Latin America and the Caribbean have fallen 89% since 1970 and climate-warming carbon dioxide levels are estimated to be at their highest for 800,000 years.

Species are rapidly disappearing from the earth

Even the UK is seeing the effects, with the puffin population falling as rising sea temperatures reduce the numbers of the sand eels they feed on.

Tanya Steele, WWF chief executive, said: “We are the first generation to know we are destroying our planet and the last one that can do anything about it.”

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WWF international director general Marco Lambertini added: “The situation is really bad, and it keeps getting worse.

“The only good news is that we know exactly what is happening.”

The rate of human consumption is too much for the Earth to cope with, the report says

The world’s conservation efforts are not enough to match the scale of the problem, the report says, with climate change and plastic pollution posing particular threats.

Over-fishing, tree felling and the use of pesticides in agriculture are also signs that the rate of human consumption is accelerating so fast that the Earth cannot cope.

But animals are not just “nice to have around”, our food, health and medicines rely on natural resources which, globally, provide services worth £97 trillion a year.

Among the species threatened are hedgehogs, which are predicted to almost vanish within the next few decades.

The jaguar is one of the species under threat in Latin America

The weird and the wonderful - they’re all at risk

Puffin numbers in the UK have declined

Puffin numbers in the UK have declined

At the Northumbrian Hedgehog Rescue Trust just outside Morpeth, where a team of volunteers cares for hundreds of sickly and underweight specimens every year, they fear the species is heading for extinction.

“Everybody likes neat and tidy gardens, puts slug pellets down and uses weedkiller,” says the trust’s founder Carole Catchpole.

“It’s serious and I wish people would take that really seriously and try and do something to help.”

Sky’s Ocean Rescue campaign encourages people to reduce their single-use plastics. You can find out more about the campaign and how to get involved at www.skyoceanrescue.com

By Gerard Tubb, north of England correspondent

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